Little Ones

One of the greatest joys I have is watching my grand-children and now great-grand-children grow.  I’ve said I want to live long enough to see my great-grand-children get married and have their children.  I don’t think that’s too “far-out” is it? Remember Abraham and Sarah? I guess you might say things are somewhat different and the purpose much different.  However, it is something that is one of my desires.

Jesus is the One who has told us how children should be treated; however, in our society the tendency is to put the children where they will not bother “us.”   Perhaps in a quiet place, or a place just for them.  Like so many have “children’s church.”  A number of years ago, I pastored in a community of about 450 people.  There were very few children in the church - two of them were the pastor’s  children.  A church void of children worshipping in it limits the learning opportunities for  how to worship with Mom and Dad, to see them sing, to give their offerings, to see people kneeling at the altar.

            Another thought about children and in relationship with mommy and daddy: our churches are able to keep us so busy doing “things,” that will involve being at the church almost every night, which many have been guilty of doing in past years.  I know we are told as parents we must spend quality time with our children and with our spouse.  It’s not the church’s problem… it’s up to the parents to manage the scheduling. Recently I was reflecting on my 3 children and do you know the memories of them during the infant years, toddler, elementary, junior and high school years are almost blanked out.  “Why?” you may ask.  I am glad you did.  In the beginning of my ministry years ago, and being pastor of extremely small congregations in small communities, I worked to support my family.  There were no weekend activities, except church.  There were very limited workers in the church so my wife along with me did multiple jobs.  Complaining? Not on your life, I praise the Lord for His continued faithfulness and He is graciously ministering to our three children and their families.  

            What I am suggesting to you who read this is be sure you spend quality time with your family. Just don’t let spending church time or your job “rob” you of the memories of your children, because they do grow up so fast.  Keep vivid pictures in your minds of each of them, be involved in their activities, and be available for them and your husband/wife.

            Now back to what Jesus did.  Read it with me “…Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." And after laying His hands on them, He departed from there. (Matthew 19:13-15 NASB.

            Children are like “puppies, kittens, and baby chickens” - all need to be CARED for and must be LOVED!

            I took the liberty of updating the words to an old chorus:

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world -

from the east unto the west, to the north and to the south -

Jesus loves the little children of the world.

01-11-11

Giving “Thanks”   One of my favorite songs expressing thanks is the one by Ray Boltz.  In it he expresses his thanks and appreciation to those who were a blessing in his growing-up years.  I believe every person has someone in their lives who were or are a blessing to them.  For me, just thinking back to one of my earliest memories, is Auntie Vaughn, who I think was my Sunday School teacher in one of the early elementary classes.   And Sister Brewer, about as broad as she was tall, loved kids.  It was from her that I remember the bullfrogs and butterflies….

                Thanks especially to my early pastor.  Pastor A.W. Hands - he was such a compassionate man.  His wife was confined to a wheelchair, and had to be carried everywhere by her husband.   She taught SS class, and she would sing with her daughters; she was such a blessing.   Their son married my younger sister, so we became somewhat family members.  He was one who taught me the value of “work.”  I won’t go into that, but I am thankful for him.

                My list could on and on, to include my scoutmaster, Mr. Jerry McCalla.  My dad, John Marshall, who cared for and provided for his family by working during and following the depression to provide for his family.  Thanks Dad!  My 3 children should be at the top of this list, as they all three are a blessing to me and their mother. 

                Paul, one of our examples in the scriptures, declared that we should “give thanks” for everything.  As a matter of fact there are a number of things he says about what we should do: 

“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil” (I Thessalonians 5:16-22) ANSB.

                 So, during this holiday season, and especially this Thanksgiving Day, as we gather around our tables with family and friends, let’s truly be thankful for all He has done for us.

                                Have a blessed and wonderful day in the Lord with loved ones!

Listen to:  “Thank You” by Ray Boltz

22-Nov-10

Where have the old tunes gone…?

Recently on one of Gaither’s Saturday night singing on TBN, an older man (81) sang the ol’ chorus “Thank you Lord” and then sang it again with all the others joining in. And just today, early after midnight, I was having one of my ongoing headaches and the ol’ choruses started … one after the other another … such as, “I know  the Lord will make a way for me … if I live a holy life, shun the wrong and do the right, I know the Lord will make a way for me” which led into “I know the Lord will make a way for me…”  Have Thine own way Lord, have Thine own way, You are the Potter, I am the clay, mold me and make me, after Thy will, while I am waiting yielded and still.”
 

You see where I am going with this? We older people are being put down for longing for the “oldies.”  Many of the, what I call “ditties,” are simply that and do not have lasting meaning.  Please don’t get me wrong.  Some of our younger composers want us to have more than just a “beat,” more than just a series of repeated phrases, with their loud worship band music. They create an atmosphere of spectators rather than participators.  What I'd like to have is variety, for each age group, and some time for quiet worship too.

Where am I going with this? Music and songs should really lift us up in our worship. Just yesterday the sound was so loud that the soloist’s words were lost in the loudness - that was not an uplifting experience for me.

Serve the LORD with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Psalm 100:2,3 (NASB)

Past music should be the predictors of our present music!

15NOV10

Challenges come and go; these generally indicate there have been so-called winners and losers.

Most recently, another” world series of baseball” came to a close with the Giants the winners and The Texans the losers.  Just as one sport season closes others open, such as the NCAA and NBA seasons are underway.  I find it interesting that people who attend these events spend big bucks to go.  Tickets, parking, snacks, and apparel boasting the team they are for.  Yet they complain about having to make the effort to attend worship services, educational classes and supporting activities geared for the family.  Mainly they don’t have the time and the weekends are the only time they have with their families.  These excuses perhaps are true but I say there should always be a balance in our activities.

 Over the years one of the things that was lacking in my life was “outside” reading time.  My Bible reading time and study time was not the problem, but casual reading was.   I’m doing more of it these days.  While on our vacation to New Mexico this year, our son Larry sent a number of fiction books home with us, one especially being about a sprinter who attended high school in Concordia, Kansas, THE HOUSE RULES, by Chris Hamilton.  I had pastored there 5 years and was familiar with much of what the author wrote about   Larry had gone to school with a number of the characters in the book.  This did make reading it a bit more interesting.  Then before we left Texas our son David gave me a book that really brought some challenges to me.   The book is “The Heavenly Man” by Paul Hathaway and another one from our Sunday School teacher’s wife, “Back to Jerusalem” also by Paul Hathaway.  These books are very challenging in every way about being “sold out’ when it comes to serving the Lord.  Check out the website: www.backtojerusalem.com for more information.  The vision of the underground church in China is to send 100,000 missionaries to the 10-40 belt where mostly Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu live.  Both books are on the subject of “Back to Jerusalem” via the Silk Road out of China to Jerusalem.

In China these home churches are not associated with any organized religious group because they do not believe God has called them to “build church buildings” but are to reach the lost through their house small group gatherings.  I have believed for a long time that IF we could just drop church names that identify an organization and simply become the “Body of Christ” we could do more for the Lord.  A awful lot of what we do is not in the scripture and there is an awful lot in the Bible that we do not do.  In other words, we are to carry out the message of salvation as followers of Jesus.  In other words: IF “it” is not essential to salvation, disregard it!

The message from Jesus is simply “…by this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, that ye love one another.”  Turn in your Bible and read for yourselves what is said about this LOVE.  First John 4:7-21, mainly verse 21 “…and this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”  (NASB)

To sum up this blog, our goals according to some old hymns:  “Rescue the Pershing” and “Jesus Saves”.

4-Nov-10

Be Prepared!

An  ol’ time song contains this thought about vacations.  “…when I take my vacation in heaven ... I leave this old world far behind….” -- and with those words my comments will be about our preparation for making what is probably our final long car trip.  At the moment Marge and I have both almost finished our packing, taking along what we think we will need.  When we get home we’ll not have used half of what we took, but we have it just in case.  Remember the camera, and your tooth brush, we must have the map even though we have our antique GPS device (it’s all of 6 years old), we are trying to be ready.

There are many (you may be included) who live life without any thought about where they will spend eternity.  Jesus talked about preparing a “place” for us in St. John 14  "Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-4 NASB)  This is what Jesus has done for each of us, leaving us with the responsibility of preparing for that place.  Many years ago, I used this passage for a funeral message and called it “A Prepared Place for a Prepared People.”  The premise of this promise is that we prepare for that place in order to go to that place!

In the fall of 1950 in San Diego, California, dressed in my U.S. Navy uniform and on my first “liberty” after joining the Navy, on a Sunday night I heard the pastor preach, then give an altar call, I made my way to the altar and made that preparation that night.  I remember well what happened at that altar when I turned my life over to Jesus and experienced His forgiveness, and I started my walk with Him during my four-year enlistment period.  He NEVER failed me even one time.  Me?  Slips and falls, tripping and stumbling, knowing that Jesus was there to lift me up when these times came.  Preparation started for me a long time before that encounter in San Diego -- it started when I was a boy, as a matter a fact as a baby carried in my mom’s arms.  I grew taught by loving teachers during these growing years, relating stories in the Bible and  ones like Butterflies and Bullfrogs too.  So I could have asked  “…what meaneth these stones…”? and my teachers would have told me. (See Joshua 4:6-7)

For our vacation, my wife started making her list about 10 days ago and now she is pretty well ready, having made her preparations.  I am packed and ready to load the car for our trip.  We are told everyone needs to take some time off.  Jesus did.  Frequently He would find a secluded place for quietness and prayer, maybe alongside a stream, or up in the mountains, or in a boat, Jesus found it necessary for alone time.  Hardly a vacation, as people and/or His disciples would search Him out. At these times He was moved with compassion for the needs of people, and so must we be.

Just one final thought, generally a destination has been decided.  The route to be taken decided. Where to eat, where to gas up, where to spend the night all go with this idea of preparation.  Just make sure you are prepared for what Jesus has prepared for you!

John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord, ARE WE READY?

23-Sep-10

From the earliest stages of our lives, there seems to be pattern of forming what I call cliques.  In the Boy Scouts of America we had the “buddy system”.  Generally from Junior high school  throughout Senior high school we would develop a friendship with 2 or 3 others that remained until we graduated.  These rarely were maintained from that point on.  For me, it was joining the U.S. Navy; for my good friend Carl - he enlisted in the U.S. Army immediately following graduation.  We continued a long distance friendship UNTIL I married his sister, Marjorie.  He then became a relative, later became my “boss” in the moving business, now upon “retirement” still my friend, he in Tulsa, Oklahoma and me in Kansas City, Kansas.

 Why has this thinking about how “cliques” are formed in society and has “bled” over into the church?  I wonder IF the church is a “clique” or a “church”?  So from the other side of the pulpit and now sitting in the pew, there are some observations I have made.  Over the years, it didn’t take me long to determine in the churches I have pastored, there were these “groups” who were hesitant to include and accept the “outsider”. 

After my first retirement in 1996, we had the opportunity of being in a number of churches across the country during our travels and found the acceptance of us as “outsiders” was distant.  Not really very accepting of us “strangers”.  Recently our pastor stated that 85% of people attend church because someone invited them.  Good point.  However, my question is “…how do we treat them after they come?”  In most churches the regulars tend to sit in the same area every Sunday, right or wrong - at least Marge and I do.   And…looking around the sanctuary, I see people sit with their friends week after week and it appears they do not make an effort to sit by someone they do not know. 

Maybe we should “split” up a little or mix up the “pot” and determine to sit with someone we do not know each week.

Many years ago, at the church we attended, as I led the singing, I challenged people to sit somewhere different the next Sunday.  We did and when our Pastor came in, he was momentarily confused, wondering what was going on because people were not sitting in their usual place.  That was fun!  Another example of the “same ole same” was in McCracken, Kansas.  I knew where each family had sat for years because the varnished floor was rubbed clear with their “ritual” of never sitting anywhere else.

 So, the next time you are in church, just look around and see how “inclusive” or “exclusive” it appears.  A “clique” or a “church”?  

 When Jesus issued the call: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light." Matthew 11:28-29 NASB

It was not a call to exclude but to include.  So, let’s each one determine that we will be individually responsible to endeavor to make people feel welcome so they will desire to return and become a part of the family of God.   

While in the Navy and involved with the Mother Layne’s Hospitality Home for Servicemen, one of our “rituals” to make friends with the first-timers was to sing to the tune of “Red River Valley”

"Oh, I care not what church you belong to,

Just as long as for Calvary you stand,

So, tonight if your heart is as my heart,

You’re my brother so give me your hand.”

26-Jun-10
 

Recently, we had a family reunion for the Seaton Kids, all five of them, and their families.  As with most family gatherings, it was enjoyable to watch the younger children interact with each other, as well as watching the older ones.  Four years ago we met in the southern part of Oklahoma for a time of fun, food and fellowship.  This one, in Lyons, Kansas was a time of remembering, refreshing, and even some “preaching” and family sing-a-longs! 

                With that, let me change gears just a little and share some of our “springtime” experiences, such as watching a pair of house wrens build their nest, and producing another family of 4 baby wrens.  These “parents” were very diligent in caring for their little ones and just the other day, they “flew” the coup and were guarded by ma and pa wren.  They provided an example of providing everything needed for them to succeed in the “bird” world. 

                Some “ole’ time” singers like Ethel Waters, George Beverly Shea, Doug Oldham would sing “His  Eye Is On the Sparrow” testifying to God’s concern and care for the birds of the air, indicating that God cares for every one of us as His children.  Now, back to our family reunion, no one needed to have an invitation to come because they were a part of the Seaton family. 

                For my devotional reading, I currently am making my way through the Prophet Isaiah, and have come upon many verses issuing the invitation to come.  I enjoy receiving invitations with a “timetable”; however, many have been given with “come over sometime”!  This tells me the “invitation” isn’t really sincere.  I have said in the past to someone who issued such an invitation, taking out my date book and asking  “when?”  The Prophet stated it simply “Come NOW…” no need to put it off, but do it now.

Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together,"

Says the LORD,

"Though your sins are as scarlet,

They will be as white as snow;

Though they are red like crimson,

They will be like wool."

By the way, this verse is good one to memorize. I cannot help but think about the ultimate “Reunion” for believers.  We have friends, family members, church family members who have preceded us in making their entrance into our Father’s house.  (John 14)  Marge and I have many of our Hospitality Home friends who are celebrating with many of our military friends now.

This invitation came many years ago and it is up to each one to either accept or reject it!  Heaven IS a wonderful place and I (and I hope you) am excited about spending eternity there.  Yes sir, this is a reunion that I do not want to miss!  Why?  Jesus will be there!

“…TENT OR COTTAGE, WHY SHOULD I CARE,

MY LORD IS PREPARING A PLACE OVER THERE”

(from an old song)

10-Jun-10

Thanks to Janet Marshall for these photos of the reunion.